Chapter 17 Flashcards
Two most important influences on Enlightenment**
Isaac Newton and John Locke
Uniqueness of Britain politically and socially leading up to Enlightenment***
MOST FREE EUROPEAN COUNTRY OVERALL
Religion:
EX: Religious toleration for all except Unitarians + Roman Catholics, not actively persecuted
Politics:
EX: Relative freedom of speech + press, Limited monarchy, Political sovereignty, Courts protect citizens
Economics:
EX: Less regulation
Britain’s influence on the Enlightenment**
- After 1688, political + economic stability in England = living example of a society where enlightened reforms seemed to benefit everyone.
- Place where enlightened ideas where working for everyone.
Public Opinion**
- The collective effect on the political and social life of views circulated in print and discussed in the home, workplace and centers of leisure. Relatively content.
- Government could not operate wholly in secret anymore
Print culture*
Culture where books, newspapers, journals, and pamphlets have achieved a status.
Voltaire’s views and literary works on Britain**
- Letters on the English (1733), Praised virtues of England’s religious toleration.
- Liked Britain’s moderate political atmosphere, scientific + economic prosperity
Voltaire’s Literary works and main ideas of works***
1733: Letters on the English
- Praised virtues of England’s religious toleration, criticizes abuses of French Society
1738: Elements of the Philosophy of Newton
- Popularized Isaac Newton’s ideas across the continent
Candide
-Satire attacking war, religious persecution what he considered unjustified optimism about the human condition
Philosophes criticism of Christian Church**
- Believed that ecclesiastical institutions obstructed any human improvement
- Saw Church as hindrance to rational life and scientific study of humanity and nature.
- Doctrine of “Original Sin” = any improvement in human nature on earth = IMPOSSIBLE!
- Philosophes say Calvinists belief in predestination denied that virtuous behavior could affect the fate of a person’s soul after death
Major points of the Deists Creed**
RATIONALITY APPLIED TO RELIGION –> SET OF BELIEFS = DEISM!!!!
1. God = divine watchmaker who created mechanism of nature, set it in motion, then departed and therefore, there was no such thing as divine intervention.
- Existence of God can be justified through the study of nature (empirical evidence)
- Life after death, believed a rational God must favored/preferred rational mortality
- Empirical, tolerant, reasonable, encouraged virtuous living
Ethics***
- Written by Baruch Spinoza
- Closely identified God and Nature, pantheistic idea ( doctrine that identifies God with the universe) that God is not a distinct personality, but really present everywhere in nature
- Interpreted by Christians + Jews that human beings might not be personally responsible for their actions and that there would be no personal individual immortality (eternal life) of human soul after death.
Moses Mendelssohn*****
(1729-1786)
1. Known as “Jewish Socrates”
- Jewish Philosopher
- Advocated assimilation of Jews into modern European life
- Wrote “On Ecclesiastical Power and Judaism”
- Argued for religious toleration and maintenance of distinct Jewish communities.
- Believed Jewish communities shouldn’t excommunicate members over different theological opinions or acceptance of modern secular ideas.
Pascal’s views of Islam*
- Wrote “Pensees”
- Portrayed Islam as a false religion and Muhammed as an imposter and false prophet
Editors of “The Encyclopedia”*
Denis Diderot & Jean Le Rond d’Alembert
Contributors of “The Encyclopedia”*
100+ contributors of other French philosophers of time
Topics/Themes of “The Encyclopedia”**
- Critical of ecclesiastical institutions, authoritative governments, + philosophy
- Articles on manufacturing, canal building, ship construction, + improved agricultural methods
Effects of “The Encyclopedia”*
Secularized learning!!!! Spread Enlightenment ideas
“On Crimes and Punishments”*****
- Written by Marquis Cesare Beccaria
- Published in 1764
- Scorned torture + capital punishment
- Encouraged judicial systems to have speedy trials and give out punishments designed to discourage further crime
- Believed in Utilitarianism!
Adam Smith and views on Mercantilism***
- Wanted mercantile system in England to BE ABOLISHED!
- Disagreed with mercantilist assumption that earth’s resources were limited/scarce
- Believed earth’s resources = limitless and that they should be exploited to improve human comfort.
“The Wealth of Nations”***
- Written by Adam Smith
- Published in 1776
- A.K.A. “Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of nations”
Role and purpose of government according to Adam Smith**
- Limited role in economic life
- Should provide school, army, navies, and roads
- Should open new dangerous trade routs that were economically desirable
- Believed economic freedom = foundational to natural economic system
Believed best way to encourage economic growth = unleashing individuals to pursue their own selfish economic interests
Adam Smith’s four-stage theory**
BARBARISM –> CIVILIZATION
1. Hunter-gatherer
- Pastoral-herding
- Agricultural
- Commercial
Laissez-faire economics*
- Economic policy that favors limited role of government in economic life
Beliefs of physiocrats***
- French economic reformers
- EX: Francois Quesnay & Pierre Dupont de Nemours
- Believed existing legislation + regulation of trade in mercantilist economic system hampered the expansion of trade, manufacturing, and agriculture
- Believed primary role of governemts = protecting private properties and permit owners to use it freely
Rousseau & human nature*
- Hated the world because it seemed to him impossible for human beings to achieve moral or virtuous lives in the commercial society that they lived in.
Rousseau and evil in the world*
“Discourse on the Origin of Inequality”
Blamed evil in the world on the uneven distribution of property
Rousseau and views on women**
“Emile” 1762
1. Declared men + women occupy separate spheres
- Women should be educated for position subordinate to
men! i.e. rearing children + other domestic needs. - The world of citizenship political action, and civic virtue was man’s sphere
- Portrayed domestic role of women as noble virtue
Rousseau’s thoughts on individualism vs. community**
“The Social Contract” 1762
1. “All men are born free, but everywhere they are in chains.”
- Society more important than individual
- Each person can maintain personal freedom while behaving as loyal member of larger community
- Outlines political structure he believed would overcome evils of the contemporary politics and society
Injustices as grounds for criticism of Imperialism from Enlightenment thinkers***
- Conquest of America’s
- ill-treatment of Native Americans
- Enslavement of African Americans + other indigenous groups
Views of Herder**
- Embraced idea of “Cultural Relativism”
- Belief that human beings living in different societies possessed the capacity as human beings to develop in culturally different fashions
Montesquieu’s literary works*
- “Spirit of the Laws” 1748
- Praised the English system of government
Montesquieu’s views on government**
- He believed the best form of government depended on country’s size, population, social and religious customs, economic structure, traditions, and climate
- Admired English system of separation of powers
i. e. executive, legislative, and judicial
Montesquieu’s preferred government for France**
- Monarchy or republic
- Felt monarchy in France was good, but felt that the power of the monarch should be limited by aristocratic groups like parlement, corporate bodies, and the towns.
Philosphes views on women**
- Were not feminists
2. Did urger broader education for women
Characteristics of Rococo Art***
- Lavish, lighthearted decoration
- Pastoral colors and play of light
- Associated with aristocracies
Themes of Rococo Art*
- Fetes galantes = Scenes of elegant parties in lush gardens
Examples of Rococo Art***
- Imperial Hall in Wurzburg, Bavaria
- Jean-Antione Watteau = prominent painter of scenes
EX: “Pilgrimage to Isle of Cithera” - Boucher & Jean-Honore Fragonard
EX: Female nudes with men and women in sexually suggestive positions
Supporters of Rococo Art*
Louis XV
Characteristics of Neoclassical Art***
- Return to figurative + architectural models from Renaissance and ancient world
- Concerned with public lives or public morals and
- Scenes of heroism and self-sacrifice
Examples of Neoclassical Art**
- Pantheon in Paris built as Jesuit church
- “Oath of the Horatii”
- illustrates scene from story of Roman Livy, of soldiers taking an oath vowing to die for the Roman Republic
Major artists of Neoclassical Art**
- Winckelmann
-Rediscover + excavation of ancient Roman cities of
Pompeii - Herculaneum
- Used ancient republican themes to emphasize corruption of French monarchical government - Jacques-Louis David
- “Oath of the Horatii” - Jean Antione Houdon
- Stone potraits of leading philosophes
Enlightened absolutism under Frederick the Great & self proclaimed title**
- “First Servant of the State”
2. Embodiment under enlightened absolutism, sought loyalty from Junkers, church, intellectuals, and military
Enlightened absolutism under Catherine the Great*****
- Considered Russia backwards, wanted to revise law in Russia
- Charter of the Nobility 1785, granted privileges to the nobility
- Attempted to suppress internal barriers on trade
- Russia wanted to gain access to warm-weather ports
- Annexed Crimea in 1783
Absolutist monarchs directly associated with the ideals of the Enlightenment***
- Frederick the Great - Prussia
- Joseph II of Austria - Austria
- Catherine the Great - Russia
Joseph II of Austria and social reforms****
- Son of Maria Theresa
- Wanted to improve lives of his people
- Wanted to extend territory at expense of others
- Extended freedom of worship to Lutherans, Calvinists, and Greek Orthodox
- Abolished internal tariffs on trade, encouraged road building, improved river transport
- Granted peasants right to marry, engage in skilled work, have their children learn a skill
Catherine the Great of Russia and the nobility*
- Russia’s educated class was not large enough to from an effective bureaucracy so she needed the nobles –> Charter of Nobility
Catherine the Greats territorial aspirations/conquests**
- Wanted to gain Warm-weather port
- Russia vs. Ottoman Empire
- Russia won several major victories that gave Russia control of Ottoman provinces on the Danube River and Crimean coast on the Back Sea
- Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainardji –> Russia having control of Black Sea
Results of 1st partition of Poland***
- Would give Russian and Austria something they wanted and prevent war among major powers
- Prussia loses important salt mines
- Swallowed by major central-eastern European powers
Facts about Gotthold Lessing
- German playwright
2. Wrote “Nathan the Wise” = plea for toleration for all religious faiths.
